[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 99 (Wednesday, July 6, 2011)]
[House]
[Page H4592]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   U.S. MILITARY INVOLVEMENT IN LIBYA

  (Mr. KUCINICH asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, within the next 24 hours, the House will 
have the opportunity to end U.S. military involvement in Libya. And we 
should do so for the following reasons:
  First, the war is illegal under the United States Constitution and 
our War Powers Act because only the U.S. Congress has the authority to 
declare war, and the President has been unable to show that the U.S. 
faced an imminent threat from Libya. The President even ignored his top 
legal advisers at the Pentagon and the Department of Justice, who 
insisted he needed congressional approval before bombing Libya.
  Second, the war has reached a stalemate and is unwinnable without the 
deployment of NATO ground troops, effectively an invasion of Libya. The 
whole operation was terribly ill-considered from the beginning.
  While NATO supports the Benghazi-based opposition situated in the oil 
rich northeast, there is little evidence that the opposition has the 
support of the majority of Libyans. The leading opposition group, the 
National Front for the Salvation of Libya, which had been reportedly 
backed by the CIA in the 1980s, should never have launched an armed 
civil war against the government if they had no chance absent a massive 
NATO air campaign and the introduction of NATO troops.
  It's time to put an end to this war. Vote to cut off funds.

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